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r/TEFL • u/BMC2019 • Jul 26 '26
Over the past eight days, this sub has been spammed with shills for Teacher Record - twenty of them and counting. Most of the posts have come from brand-new accounts - as fast as we ban them, they respawn. Luckily, our Automoderator has been programmed to shoot on sight, and none of their posts or comments have gone live. Since Teacher Record are not taking the hint that they are not welcome here, I've decided to give them the attention they so desperately want.
Teacher Record's only selling point seems to be that they offer a TEFL course for free, and even that isn't enough to get genuine reviewers! Instead, they have to spam social media pretending to be satisfied customers of their own operation. Despite the influx of shills, not one of the posters has managed to sound like a genuine customer. Mind you, if they had been genuine customers, it's not a great reflection on the company that the only thing they could say about the course was that it was free:
Just wrapped up my free TEFL with TeacherRecord. It was honestly a nice feeling to finally check that off my list since I’ve been getting everything ready to teach abroad. I also noticed they have an ESL job board, which I hadn’t paid much attention to before. Has anyone here actually used it to land a job?
Hi as an aspiring ESL teacher it is necessary to get a TEFL Certification. For those who would like to get it free I'm recommending this website [redacted]. TeacherRecord is a leading ESL job board and TEFL certification platform trusted by hundreds of thousands of teachers worldwide. Try it! It's definitely worth it!
Word to the wise: Nothing in life is free, so I've done some digging to find out what Teacher Record is really up to. It turns out that their "free TEFL course" is nothing more than a front for their real operation - a shady recruitment agency.
The course is a loss leader. You get it for free, not because Teacher Record is nice but because you've given them something much more useful - your data, data that they will use to pimp you out to the schools that grease their well-oiled palms. How will they do this? Through their "massive database of authentic, verified ESL job openings" of course. But is their job board everything it's cracked up to be? Let's see...
Teacher Record's home page brags that you can "Explore Teaching Offers Worldwide". Further down the page, in large font, they claim to be "The Leading ESL Job Board" with "30,000+ registered recruiters" and "70+ countries with roles as well as online opportunities".
On their About page, they say:
Job opportunities span China, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, Europe, North America and other major regions globally.
Sounds good, right? More like misleading. Having trawled through EVERY SINGLE ADVERT on their site, I can tell you that the ONLY jobs listed are in China. Even the online jobs are for Chinese companies. Lying is not a good look. They should be upfront about their recruitment being limited to jobs in China rather than pretending they recruit worldwide.
To teach legally in China, you need a Z Visa, and the requirements of the Z Visa are a Bachelor's degree and a passport from one of the 'Big Seven' countries, namely, the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Any reputable recruitment agency would know that. So why then is this (self-proclaimed) "top global vertical job board" with "16 years of professional experience in the ESL staffing industry" actively advertising illegal positions?
In multiple adverts, they claim that Bachelor's degrees are preferred but not required, and/or are actively seeking non-native English-speaking teachers. Note that if you are caught working illegally in China, you face being arrested, fined, jailed, deported, and/or banned from re-entry. And how much support do you think you'll get from Teacher Record? None. Scumbag recruiters like this should be avoided like the plague for your own safety.
On their 'About' page, they say:
We feature a massive database of authentic, verified ESL job openings [...]
And yet, many of these "authentic, verified ESL job openings" are blatantly discriminatory. I trawled through all eight pages of listings and came across these three "delights" on multiple posts:
Requirement: native foreign teacher, white
Age：≤45 years old
If you are under 35 and are a female teacher who is interested in this job, please send your resume.
Clearly, you need to be white, young, and preferably female. But that's not all.
South Africans are being offered less than other 'Big Seven' nationals. In fact, I came across two postings for the same company, one aimed at South Africans and the other aimed at Americans, Britons and Canadians (other 'Big Seven' nationals didn't get a mention). The starting salary for South Africans was 12,000 CNY compared with a starting salary of 14,000 CNY for the other 'Big Seven' nationals. Nice. Unless you're South African, of course.
The online jobs are just as bad, particularly those aimed at Filipinos, with jobs offering the most pitiful hourly rates I've ever seen! No-one - and I mean NO-ONE - in this industry should be expected to work for US$2-4ph! Oh, and to add insult to injury, when you dig into the advert, you see that as the classes are only 25 mins long, you'll be earning a whole US$1-2 for your time... assuming of course, you get past the trial class, for which you'll be paid an absolutely disgusting US$0.50! Yes, 50 f*cking cents!
These schools are clearly racist and exploitative, and Teacher Record should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such discriminatory employers to advertise with them. But I guess money talks. With Filipino teachers being paid so little, the schools can probably afford to pay Teacher Record quite handsomely.
Meanwhile, native English-speakers (with the notable exception of South Africans) can earn US$18-26ph.
If a recruiter or employer is happy to discriminate against non-whites/non-natives/over 45s/[any other category], they are not someone you should work for or want to work for. Forewarned is forearmed.
On their 'About' page Teacher Record says:
All listed roles are posted directly by legitimate educational institutions with clear and transparent salary detail.
I guess by 'clear' they meant 'as clear as mud'. As you scroll through the job board, you see a salary range for each job. But when you click on the link to find out more, you'll notice that the salary listed in the body of the advert or in the 'Job benefit/welfare' section is often considerably lower than what was advertised. I clicked on one job advertised at 20,000-26,000 CNY, and discovered that the real salary was actually 15,000 CNY (gross), which is quite a drop.
Other jobs have huge salary ranges, with one offering a monthly salary of 5,000-33,000 CNY. Reading further, one can assume that the lower end of that is for the non-native English-speaking teachers they plan to hire illegally. Yes, in addition to working illegally, you really will be worth less (a LOT less) than your native English-speaking counterparts.
Interestingly, a number of the available jobs are through an agency called Rancca. With the other adverts coming from biggish names, such as Meten, First Leap and EF, or organisations with names typical of Chinese companies, such as Meiyu Education Group or Happy English, Rancca stood out. So, of course I had to find out more. And I didn't have to look too far.
There in the small print at the bottom of Teacher Record's site was the following:
This website is operated and maintained by ShenZhen Federated Database Education Technology Co.,Ltd. Certain services are supported by its partner, Rancca Limited.
What's the betting Teacher Record tries really hard to push those particular jobs?
Recruiters are often shady, but Teacher Record is absolute pond scum. They offer you a shitty TEFL course for free for the sole purpose of collecting your data. They then use this data to match you to low-quality postings from the equally scummy employers that advertise on their site. If you take one of their jobs, you are likely to find yourself being discriminated against, grossly underpaid, and even working illegally. There is no reason on earth for anyone to (a) take this substandard TEFL course, or (b) accept a job through Teacher Record. Do yourself and the TEFL industry a favour and avoid them like the plague.
r/TEFL • u/Humble_Consequence13 • 9h ago
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/aug/30/young-americans-teaching-abroad
Just came across this article which sounds like paid for content but apparently is not. Has the market in SK, Japan and Taiwan suddenly improved or am I right to be suspicious?
r/TEFL • u/Tearmisu • 1d ago
Mine was a new hire at a training centre during COVID. Spent all week talking about how experienced he is and that we all don't know anything. Both the foreign teachers and the Chinese staff immediately didn't like his attitude. He would think people were talking about him constantly when people spoke Chinese around him and at meetings because he couldn't understand the language even though they weren't. His demo class went so bad that the manager didn't give him any classes until he could prove himself in a demo despite the rest of us being stupidly overworked.
Walked into the office between classes to see him screaming at a 19 year old marketing girl in front of the entire teaching department because she dared to ask him to help her cut something out of a piece of paper as she needed a hand and he had no schedule. He yelled that he was a "serious academic" and that helping cut things out of paper was "insulting".
He was fired at the end of the day.
r/TEFL • u/stinkyfeettwelve • 1d ago
(Tried to post this from a throwaway account but it wouldn't let me, so here.)
Note: I'm more asking for advice about what to do in my situation, but I've included as many details about the school as I have because I also want to know if other buxibans are really like this in terms of pace/work environment.
I was originally planning to apply for master's programs in English in my home country (the U.S.) because I wanted to teach English literature at community college or something. I then found out that wasn't the wisest choice for reasons I won't go into now, and I decided to pivot to getting an M.Ed. in teaching ESOL. (I volunteered teaching ESL to adults for several years and really loved it.) By this time, though, I would have to wait a year to join a program, I had extreme difficulty finding a job in my hometown, and I had never been to another country despite wanting to my entire life. So, I paid for a 120 hour TEFL course and then started applying for jobs in Taiwan (country choice: various reasons, but me wanting to improve my Mandarin was a top one).
At first I was looking for any placement that specifically didn't involve kids younger than jr. high age, because I historically have not done well with nor had any interest in working with small children. However, I really couldn't find any jobs like this, especially without a teaching license.
I interviewed for this buxiban that dealt with elementary to age 18 at the end of July/early August and thought it checked out/sounded alright. I also liked that it wasn't a chain school, and I already had a room waiting for me at the "teachers' apartments". So, I booked a flight to Taiwan and arrived on the night of the 22nd.
I now realize that yes, I HATE teaching young children (especially when they've been stuck in chairs once again after a full school day, but even if they weren't), I have a very high concentration of classes full of them, I'm one of only three foreign teachers at the entire school (including the guy who recruited me, who owns the school with his wife) with a usual maximum of two there on any given day (on Mondays it's only me...), and the "teachers' apartments" is just an apartment building this guy who hired me is the property manager of with only one of the other tenants actually being a teacher...because there's only one other foreign teacher besides the owner.
The "curriculum" is basically going through the books the school uses doing a page or several questions every day in sequential order. (For at least half of them, they don't actually look at which pages they're assigning. Just type the next one.) In a 30 minute session (really 25 or less because I have to get my shit and climb three flights of stairs or run across the busy street to get to the next classroom... where I'm already late because there is not a free minute in my schedule to account for even walking down the hall to another classroom) I'm expected to go through like 3 different lessons from 3 different books which have nothing to do with each other. It's impossible to get things done and probably more impossible for the kids to actually learn anything because there's barely time to check for any kind of comprehension, and nothing is being reinforced that I can see (though maybe I'm not the person who would see it).
Additionally, when I heard during the interview there were going to be Taiwanese teachers and TAs, I thought they might co-teach and help with behavioral stuff or something, but they actually go over worksheets, teach most of the grammar, give/teach vocabulary, give homework, grade tests, grade homework, etc., etc. Which I guess might sound great? But it means almost all of foreign teachers' work consists of coming into every single class for the allotted 30 mins - 1 hour (more time for younger students) and performing like a hired clown trying to entertain them and enhance oral reproduction while still barrelling through so many lessons I can't keep track of them. There's also a clear weird vibe or maybe animosity between the Taiwanese teachers and foreign teachers (though there are barely any lol so maybe it's just me) like the Taiwanese teachers are sick of doing all the organizing and grunt work and stuff (though I desperately wish I could do some menial tasks to sit down for 5 minutes alone.) Though the vast majority of Taiwanese teachers are women while it seems like they only ever hire men to work as foreign teachers (who get paid more), so that could be it. I was directly told, "No pressure, but we're paying you more [than the Taiwanese teachers], so you need to be on it".
Today I taught six classes from 5PM-9:05PM with absolutely zero breaks in between, which I guess doesn't sound that bad, but every single second of that time involved me speaking while standing in front of or walking around a classroom trying to navigate as quickly as possible through a lesson while somehow still engaging these kids and getting them to answer questions or repeat after me or whatever. Since it was my first official day alone (not shadowing/tag-teaming or being supervised), I was given a Taiwanese student teacher to follow me around and assist me, which I guess meant sit in the back of the class and chat with the students while I try to teach. I was lugging like ten books (a lot of different classes do share the same books) and three bags of CDs around because of the sheer amount of material we need to be going through every class. I also thought it would make things easier if I spent a lot of time planning beforehand and made a nice-looking easy-to-read notebook page to guide me through each class, but it really did not help at all: I literally did not have time to look down at anything besides the page number of a book.
I would get on fine if it just weren't for the super young kids and, worst of all, the absolutely brutal pace. I broke down in tears today after one of my classes and walked right into the next one (full of middle school boys lol) obviously looking like I'd just been sobbing. Then I sobbed the whole walk home after finishing. I'm surprised I made it the entire day without just walking out. I'd love to "stick it out", but something tells me I won't make it another one. I don't know what to do.
I just signed the contract a couple days ago. I was feeling pessimistic about the job then (I was even physically sick from the stress, which still hasn't gone away), but thinking I didn't have any other options and things might get better. I never had a taste of what my actual schedule would be like when I was shadowing/training.
I only have about $1,500 USD in savings right now (some of which my parents gave me). I'm supposed to pay $50,000 NTD, which is more than that, if I suddenly break my contract. I can't just leave Taiwan. My parents even helped pay for the plane ride over, and I can't think of suddenly returning to go live in their basement and hunt for part-time jobs in my town until fall of next year without any way to pay them back for all this. It would all be gone.
But I'm seriously considering packing up all my things and leaving before I have to be at work. I don't know where to. The train station is literally a five minute walk from my apartment building. I'm in Changhua City. I don't have an ARC yet. I don't know. I'm honestly terrified of going back to that place, but I'm also afraid of not showing up for work in the afternoon because they obviously know where I live. I haven't slept all night or eaten because of the anxiety. I really hope this post makes sense, because I feel like I'm in a nightmare right now and I can't think straight.
r/TEFL • u/Human-Gap-881 • 1d ago
Just want to share a recent experience of mine to see if it is normal.
I recently accepted a part time job teaching IELTS speaking a few evenings a week in Hanoi. Usually each class has 50+ pupils, all of whom are high schoolers, and I teach 2 speaking classes for an hour each and then spend another 2 hours or so doing 5-minute speaking tests with as many students as I can get through.
Alarm bells started to ring when I walked into my first class and asked a student to open a window and they had no idea what I was talking about, even after repeating and rephrasing my sentence several times.
When I started, it was clear that maybe only 10% of students were at a conversational level of English, with the vast majority being unable to speak more than a few words. In addition, the attitude of the students was among the worst I've come across in 2 decades of teaching, with seemingly no concept of listening to instructions, watching a demonstration of how to do tasks, or even moving their heads a few inches to look at the instructions on the board. Most students had no pen or paper with them and some of them seemed genuinely offended that I wanted them to speak, either with me or practice in pairs.
It made me wonder what the marketing team was telling parents in order for them to sign their kids up for a course which teaches skills to pass a language proficiency test.
Anyway, does anyone have any similar experiences to this? Every time I go there I feel like the only sane person in a lunatic asylum.
r/TEFL • u/Cashingo • 1d ago
Having spent a fair amount of time this year searching for a teaching position in Shanghai on various recruiting websites, I can't help but notice how ridiculous the number of applicants there are for almost every position in Shanghai on eChinacities - often seeing 700+ applicants on the same day the post goes active. Is it true that the competition for Shanghai is always going to be like this ? (I already taught in Shanghai before but got lucky on linkedin)
PS: I try to use other websites before eChinacities as it seems that everyone seems to flock there, but just curious of anyone else's experience in the application process !
r/TEFL • u/cosmic_waluigi • 1d ago
So I'm looking through different TEFL courses, and I was wondering if anyone had experience with The TEFL Academy's Combined Level 5 course where there's one day in classroom. Other options are much cheaper both on The TEFL academy and from other providers, and it's only one day. I can't find what the one day in classroom will entail, I don't think it's teaching practice although that would be lovely.
I looked through mentions of TTA in the sub and the opinions I found were that it was good, but nothing else super clear. Does anyone have any experience with this in classroom portion, or any other course where there was a single day in-classroom, and if so, was it worth the higher price?
(Side note, my target country is Germany because I have quite a few friends there, and if anyone knows whether a certification from TTA is adequate for getting a job there, that would also be helpful to know. I know EU countries usually require higher certifications, but the find a provider link on the CELTA website is broken, so I'm looking elsewhere.)
r/TEFL • u/Downtown-Storm4704 • 1d ago
What have people’s experiences been finding work in Spain with just a TEFL certification and little/no teaching experience? not a CELTA. Do academies still hire people with this level of experience, particularly if you have some previous aux experience? If you’ve been hired recently, what kind of salary were you offered?I've seen more and more places ask for a CELTA now and previous teaching experience in academies.
Hi everyone! I’m a new English teacher working with elementary-aged students, and I really want to become excellent at teaching, not just get through the lessons.
I’m looking for books that are genuinely useful for a beginner teacher especially books that explain how to teach young learners !!
One of my students is very advanced, pretty much fluent. I can't do grammar with her anymore, she knows everything. She still makes mistakes but she understands the grammar, it's just distractions.
She's very kind and I often ask her what kind of activities she likes best but she says she likes everything. I don't think she would tell me if she liked something less or more as I think she wouldn't want to hurt me. But I'd really like to know.
Every week, I give her a short story to read and write up a summary of it (she makes the most mistakes when she writes).
We've been doing this for a while so I felt like fatigue was settling in so I gave her riddles instead. I mean, a crime story where she needs to find who is guilty of something.
She likes art, so I've asked her (as a warmup) to pick among three painting the one she likes the most and why.
Her parents have told me both their daughters enjoy tutoring and they're lucky to have found me, which is good but I don't want to sit on my laurels and offer a service which gradually becomes less interesting. I want things to remain fresh.
I'd like to play games with her in English. I think she'd enjoy it but I have no clue which games to play. I play Guess Who with my beginner students but she's way, way too advanced for that.
Any ideas?
r/TEFL • u/foreignmayo • 3d ago
Do you like knowing how many people have applied for job before hand? I noticed that some job postings sends an alert of how many people have applied to the same position.
I always wondered what the demographics of those who applied to was. Do they meet visa requirements, or education and so on. I always wondered how many shots in the dark was there, or what filters the employer is using.
So do you like knowing how many applicants there are?
r/TEFL • u/Venterpsichore • 4d ago
I (28 American) have an interview with Central European Teaching Program (CETP) set for Monday and was offered Gyula, Mor, Nyiregyhaza, Eger, and Lipot. So, I'm looking for other people who have done this and maybe help with knowing what the towns would be like. I was thinking of Nyiregyhaza, as they have multiple universities there. How does working in Hungary outside of CETP work?
I would also like to know more about the culture shock and what to expect. I am a pan nonbinary person who is pretty into Buddhism, health, nature, and public transit. I have taught in Spain, the US, and Taiwan over 4 years for some context but would like to save up money here.
r/TEFL • u/South-Significance35 • 5d ago
I just graduated and got my TEFL certification recently and want to move to China to teaching English around January/February 2027. I would seriously appreciate any advice about the Chinese job market. Here's some info on me:
- 27 y/o
- dual citizenship with US/France
- currently living in France (8 years now)
- bachelor's degree in English (France)
- 120-hour TEFL certificate
- 7 years of online English teaching experience, mainly teaching Chinese students one on one
- native English speaker
- no previous classroom teaching experience in a physical school
I'd prefer to teach in a high school or middle school as I'm tired of teaching kids after 7 years. I like being able to teach grammar and have actual conversations with students, not just teach basic vocab and phonetics... I would really prefer to avoid training centres since I want weekends off to spend time with my fiancee (Chinese)
These are the options my fiancee and I agreed on:
Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, and Shenzhen
Im trying to get all the docs ready for the Z visa with the background check, apostilles, etc at the moment.
My main questions are:
How realistic is it to find a job starting in January/February?
Is September/October too early to start applying/looking? I haven't really found anything yet. An agent told to wait until December but that seems a bit last minute?
With my qualifications and experience, what kind of salary/package would be realistic? I've been offered 22k plus basic benefits at language centers (not interested though cause they want me to work weekends)
Would I be treated as a NEW teacher because I haven't taught in a physical school yet?
Any specific websites you'd recommend?
I really wanna do this right and get a decent offer where I'd be happy. I worked my share of bad jobs in the past and am 27 now... I just wanna enjoy my life with my girl in china and be happy teaching.
Thanks for the help.
r/TEFL • u/gracieww10 • 5d ago
Hi! I’ve recently graduated from college and accepted a teaching position in Pattaya, Thailand. Everything seems great, except for one small issue 😭. I am SO worried about how I will handle the heat and humidity. For context, I grew up on the Oregon Coast, and went to college in Oregon as well, with some summers in West Virginia. Obviously, the Oregon coast is not known for its heat or humidity, and I’ve never really been in a climate that is. I’m just worried I will overheat, get headaches, possible heat exhaustion, etc. Like I said, I know it’s not that serious of a concern, but I’m worrying about this so much, I can’t even seem to get excited for this opportunity. Any help or suggestions or advice would be sooo appreciated. I leave in October.
r/TEFL • u/Late-Drag9647 • 5d ago
Hello teachers, was wondering if you have interactive PPT games you can share? My students really love games in the class. Would really appreciate it. Thanks heaps.
Title says it all. I’m just over 6 months in at a training center and have had ~180 students between 6-10 since day one. I tried and thought I’d learn em over time but it’s been long enough that it’s past awkward. Any tips to reverse engineer it—in class games or something? My Chinese coworkers handle collecting all the papers students hand in and marking them so I never get the chance to put a written name to a face. I feel like a total jerk tbh.
r/TEFL • u/InvestmentSoft1077 • 5d ago
I’m hopefully in my last year of college and I’m wanting to be prepared for next year. I’ve read that agencies are possibly not the best experience to go through. I don’t have anyone in my life who has done this before so if anyone has advice!
r/TEFL • u/AardvarkAlternative7 • 6d ago
Hello, everyone. I was wondering if anyone has done DELTA Module 2 (online) with ACE TEFL? If so, how was your experience?
r/TEFL • u/HelloHowAreYou___1 • 6d ago
I have a little less than a year until I start law school. It seems like most programs are at least a year commitment which I don’t quite have. Anyone know of any programs that are more like 9 months that start asap?
r/TEFL • u/tinniepig • 6d ago
Hey everyone,
I’m looking for some real advice and direction from people who have navigated the job market in China, specifically Black teachers, but all advice is welcome.
A bit of context on my background: I’m an Australian passport holder currently based in Vietnam, where I’ve been teaching English and humanities in public schools for 2 years now. years. I hold a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s in Public Policy, and a 150-hour TEFL.
My husband is Chinese, and due to his career, moving to Shenzhen (or the immediate surrounding area) is by far the best option for us right now. I know the Tier 1 market in Shenzhen is competitive, and I’m completely realistic about the added hurdle of visual filtering and racial preference/bias in East Asian recruitment, especially at the private kindergarten and high school level :(
What I’m really trying to figure out is how to cut through the noise and avoid predatory lowball offers, or middleman recruiters who ghost the second they see im black. I want to land a solid, legitimate position with a school that values actual qualifications and classroom experience.
For anyone who managed to secure something they really loved, please share how you did it?
How did you successfully navigate the job hunt in Shenzhen as a Black teacher?
I’d really appreciate any honest insight, Feel free to drop a comment or PM me directly if you'd prefer.
Thanks in advance!
r/TEFL • u/Ready_Training_6039 • 6d ago
I've taught EFL abroad for the best part of 10yrs but have recently moved back to the UK. I've tried my hand in a new field but I feel like I'm wasting several years of experience and a masters in TESOL by not sticking to teaching.
Is there much of a job market for private EFL teaching in the UK? What's the salary range like?
I had a go at public teaching and got halfway through a PGCE. Never again.
Edit: Not including summer schools. I've done 8/9 contracts with one in London over the years. I do miss it, but it's time to gain stability.
r/TEFL • u/t4t4t4t4t4t • 6d ago
I (28F) have decided on Vietnam as my destination but I am interested in living in a smaller, quieter area. Not exactly looking for super rural, just smaller and more green. Having access to nature is also very important to me. I'm currently living and (substitute) teaching in a major city and it's sucking the life out of me. I do not have a teaching license (only sub teaching for my state) and I'm working on my TEFL. Not sure how important it is but I'm gay and I have a few tattoos and some piercings (willing to cover tatts/take out piercings if needed.) Where should I go?
r/TEFL • u/ApprehensiveTicket60 • 7d ago
hello friends. not that it’s much of an accomplishment academically i finally got my tefl certification. do you have any advice for someone starting down the teaching path without any prior teaching experience but 10 years of white collar experience? as a former project manager i feel like a lot of skills are transferable.
my aim will be to teach abroad next year. i’m from the us and want to aim for thailand to start. always loved the sense of community there and have a good friend there that’s a local already. sure the pay isn’t great but i don’t mind living partially off savings as well.
i’m open to other countries in the area, taiwan, south korea, china or vietnam. thailand’s school year start seems to be the outlier as many of the other countries start in sept rather than thailand’s may start. i just need to get out of america asap lol and am mostly only worried about finding a job without experience
r/TEFL • u/Polopolus26 • 6d ago
Hi all! I’m a (24M) new TEFL teacher and I’ve recently started looking for a job in China. For background, I have a liberal arts masters degree and about a year of prior tutoring experience. After interviewing I’ve received a few job offers:
Training center in Jinan: 18k+2k housing. 1 year contract. No flight reimbursement (bit of a worry), but I talked with multiple staff (both local and foreign) who have worked there for substantial periods of time, and I got on with them well. They showed me around some of the facilities during our meeting and they looked nice enough.
Teaching kindergarten for an agency in indeterminate city (they list a bunch of possible options like Chongqing, Chengdu etc, I won’t know until after I sign the contract, but I will go to Chengdu first for one month of training, paid with 8k stipend during this time): 15.2k+1.5kKPI+1.5k housing (3.5k housing if Beijing or Shanghai). 2 year contract, with 10% base salary increase in second year. Will be talking with a foreign teacher that works with them soon. Flight reimbursement is included. Will have to pay back the visa costs etc if contract terminates early.
Also received an offer to teach kindergarten in Wuhan, but total payment is 14k, which I think is too low to consider in the face of the other two.
Since this is my first rodeo I’m wondering if these offers are reasonable for first time teachers, or if I should just move on and keep applying. I’ve heard a lot about the dangers of working for an agency as well on this sub, so I am mindful of that, but I also wonder if it might be a good way to get settled in the country, and to TEFL.
Thank you all so much for any advice you might have, I’ve learned so much from this sub already.